Top grads say goodbye to their school

Neil Khosla and Anson Wang are East Meadow High’s
valedictorian and salutatorian

Posted
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 12:33 pm

Wang, at top, tossed a frisbee with Khosla on the front lawn of the school.

David Weingrad/Herald

Neil Khosla, left, and Anson Wang outside East Meadow High School. Khosla is the school’s valedictorian, and Wang is the salutatorian.

David Weingrad/Herald

By David Weingrad

Receiving his yearbook in the final days before graduation, East Meadow High School senior Anson Wang viewed it as a symbol. Full of photos, quotes and friendly messages from his peers, the yearbook is a collage of memories that he and his classmates have accumulated over the past four years.

“That’s when it finally started to hit me,” Wang said. “I’ve grown so attached to this school. They’ve given me everything, and I’ve tried to give as much back as possible.”

Wang’s classmate, Neil Khosla, had a slightly different outlook in his final days before graduation. “School’s not over yet,” Khosla said. “It’s not all about academics. It’s about friends. It’s about the things you do outside of school too. We still have [the summer] to go, and I think I’m going to ride out those two months before I say my goodbyes.”

The 18-year-olds will have the opportunity to say their goodbyes on a grand stage on Sunday, when they speak at East Meadow High’s graduation. Earlier this year, the pair were named the top two in their class — Khosla as valedictorian and Wang as salutatorian.

For Khosla, the honor is simply a culmination of all the hard work he has done. “You build that reputation,” he said. “It’s just the title upon something you’ve built for so many years. So you just continue what you do.”

He has built quite a resume. Khosla is the president of the school’s Model Congress, math research club and pre-medicine club, a captain of the tennis team and a member of the math team and the Math and Science honor societies. Recently he qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, pegging him as one of the top mathematicians in the state.

Wang, the president of his class, is the vice president of the Tri-M Honor Society and Science Honor Society, and a former editor of the school newspaper, the Jet Gazette. An All-State and All-County musician, he plays the clarinet and piano, is in the school’s jazz ensemble and takes part in the Nassau Suffolk Performing Arts Program.

Sid Tanenbaum, who lived in Woodmere and owned a metal-stamping shop in Far Rockaway, where he was known more for his charitable ways than his two-handed set shot, has been honored for the past 30 years with a basketball tournament that raises scholarship money for students in the Five Towns.